Europe 1 with AFP 5:58 p.m., November 15, 2021

Poland will begin construction of a wall along the border with Belarus, where many migrants are currently massed, in December, and will finish it in the first half of 2022, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Poland will begin construction of a wall along the border with Belarus, where many migrants are currently massed, in December, and will finish it in the first half of 2022, the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"The business that we must carry out is an absolutely strategic and priority investment for the security of the nation and its citizens," said Minister of the Interior Mariusz Kaminski.

The ministry stressed that the corresponding contracts would be signed by December 15 and that the work would begin later that same month, the workers having to take turns 24 hours a day in three shifts.

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Half of the total length of the border between the two countries

The structure will cost around 353 million euros ($ 407 million) and is expected to span 180 kilometers, or about half the total length of the border between Poland and Belarus.

Parliament gave the green light to its construction last month.

Since the summer, thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed or attempted to cross this border.

As a result, Poland dispatched thousands of troops to the border area where it declared a state of emergency, while hastily erecting a fence of sharp barbed wire.